


A Story of Denial - Gabriel's Journey

by call_me_lenora



Series: The Luxury of Doubt [2]
Category: Good Omens (TV), Good Omens - Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett
Genre: Angels on earth, Archangel Trope, Beelzebub enjoys to be evil, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Gabriel and Beelzebub knew each other before the Fall, Gabriel and Michael are very close, Gabriel is the Queen Bee, Hastur is Ezekeel, Ineffable Bureaucracy (Good Omens), M/M, Michael is on Earth, Other, POV Gabriel (Good Omens), Prequel, Sequel, slowburn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-10
Updated: 2019-10-10
Packaged: 2020-12-07 10:30:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,657
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20974433
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/call_me_lenora/pseuds/call_me_lenora
Summary: Every night, the image haunted Gabriel – bright golden robes, a red sash, glowing bright blue eyes… Once, his hair had been golden, but with time it had darkened. Butterflies accompanied him, his wings shiny and white, rustling around his delicate appearance. His skin broken by the eyes that saw everything and a voice as clear as the sky when the world had just been created – Baalzebel, High Lord of the Cherubim, had been a sight to behold. A lovely one among all Angels that had trusted him.Every time Gabriel woke up, every time he knew that this was merely a memory, he rubbed his face and told himself that it was time to let go. He was the leader of the Angels. He had to prove that he was strong enough to lead them to success – no matter what.





	A Story of Denial - Gabriel's Journey

**Author's Note:**

> I didn’t expect this to become a series, and here I am, writing out of Gabriel’s perspective. Weeell…I have a lot of fun exploring the backgrounds of each and everyone of our beloved characters. 
> 
> For everyone reading this, I would also recommend reading “The Memoirs of an Archangel” that features Michael’s and Hastur’s story. They follow the same timeline and take influence in each other’s progress. Otherwise – have fun, read, comment if you like and enjoy ^-^

"...and that is why we have to strengthen our front line before we go into battle."  
Satisfied, he folded his hands in front of his belly and waited for a reply. Michael instead didn’t even move. Gabriel blinked, tilted his head and snapped in front of Michael's face.  
"Michael? Are you still there? Don't discorporate while I'm talking to you, please, it took me a while to get this straight."  
Immediately, she flinched and rubbed her face.  
"I'm sorry...there's been a lot going on lately."  
Confusion spread in his mind, and finally, a just to familiar concern he had been pushing back for a while. The fear of losing someone – but he wasn’t the highest of Archangels without a reason. Sceptically, he monitored her closely and slowly pulled his hands apart.  
"Is it mother's last order?" he asked her, closing his hands behind his back. "I expected you to change, but I couldn't have guessed how much it would actually affect you."  
She lifted her hand, waving it off, as if it was nothing.  
"Don't worry about me, please. I just need to get used to the circumstances. Life on Earth is... quite different. You're just as well-known among them as I am, you know how they are. Even though I should be used to living with them, there is still so much to learn. It just feels... let's say... Different to live among those that you know will die in a blink during Armageddon."  
Yes, the mortals knew them very well. While Michael was supposed to do the dirty work on Earth, Gabriel usually only carried messages from one place to another. He was in no way less powerful than Michael, but his magic mostly involved the mind, whereas Michael was proficient on the battlefield. Sometimes, he wondered why his friend did not take a masculine form as well. He was a warrior and most warriors on Earth were shown as males…and still, here he was, looking very feminine indeed.  
"Hm."  
The Messenger tilted his head from one side to the other, before he shook it.  
"Don't let them get too close to you, Michael. After all, you are one of us and you'll always be just that."  
He broadly smiled at her, giving her a friendly little slap against her shoulder.  
"Come on... We have been through far worse than a few weeks on Mother's Creation. Just think about it: In less than a year, Heaven will be back. Just you and me, Sandalphon, Uriel, Raphael, Metatron, Haniel...all those wonderful people back where they belong. No demons, no humans, no mortal creatures we need to take care of. Just the life we used to know..."  
Gabriel really tried to cheer her up, but even when he got into a more joking mood, she remained looking quite...grumpy. Unsatisfied with her reaction, he took a deep breath in.  
"Oh, Michael, don't tell me, they already got into your head. Don't make me help you out."  
"What do you mean by that?"  
He sighed. As much as he would have liked to pretend that he wouldn’t take action if he had to, they both knew that he was forced to erase her current memories and overwrite her feelings, unless she stopped letting herself be distracted.  
"I just mean that you should brighten up a little. In a few months, we will be free from our duties. Heaven will be the place we once knew, Hell will be gone, our sorrows will have been taken from us. - And we will prove, for the last and final time, that we were meant to be the ones remaining. Not Beelzebub, not Crowley, Hastur, Ligur, or Dagon, Mephistopheles or Moloch... Just us."  
Their eyes met. Michael’s had always been a rather peculiar ice-blue, they were paler since they had left their realms and didn’t spread as much warmth as they once used to. It reminded him of a certain Lord, and, immediately, he lost his patience for her. Angrily, he crossed his arms in front of his chest.  
"You are still thinking about them."  
He lost his smile and, in a moment of rage, firmly grabbed her chin, turning her face towards him. His purple irises darkened as he straightened his back to tower above her. Usually, he took care of not appearing to tall next to his friends, but when he felt the urge to show his authority, he could not help but tower above them.  
"Must I remind you of the reason why they fell?"  
His thumb traced down a line from her lips to her chin.  
"Each and every one of them were drawn towards the seven deadly sins... Lust and gluttony, greed and envy, sloth and wrath, and, last but not least, pride.”  
Pride… Earth’s biggest flaw and the reason why he had lost _him_.  
“They disobeyed our mother when she needed them. They succumbed to their deepest flaws and now dwell among those that guarantee them glimpses of satisfaction. The World must die, so all of their sins can be cleansed from Mother's creation. Don't _fall_ for their tricks, Michael. Don't give in to their whispers, their pleas..."  
His amethysts slowly returned to their warm, sparkling self. Gabriel's hand wandered up onto her cheek, softly touching it.  
"You know that I trust you," he whispered and softly leant his forehead against hers. "Don't disappoint me."

Even though he knew that Michael hated it when he manipulated her, he didn’t have a choice. Losing her shortly before battle would be a disaster, a loss he could not easily even out. Noone in their ranks was smart and skilled enough to defeat a demon hoard, and still… He’d felt her discomfort. After all the intimate moments they shared, he knew she was drifting away. Their friendship, their life as siblings of the light… Gone?  
“I will send you my next report in a week, Gabriel. I…got to go.”  
“So it shall be. Take care, Michael.”  
“You too, Gabriel.”  
He watched her leave the building, before he turned towards the panoramic windows that separated him from a distorted version of the world outside. His hands intertwined and rested on his thigh. 

_”Gabriel? May I ask you something?” – “Yes… What is it, Michael?” The Warrior sat down and leant against him, shoulder to shoulder. “Do you miss them?” He shook his head. “No. Do you?” Michael hesitated, before he sighed. “All the time.” Gabriel turned towards him and softly lay his arms around him. “Who exactly do you miss?” Michael shook his head and turned away. “I’d rather not say.” He smirked and snuggled up to him. “You know just as well as I do that I won’t leave you alone, until you’ve said it.” Michael giggled, shook his head, but gave in, as Gabriel threatened to tickle him. “Okay, okay, I’ll say it!” Michael lifted his hands to calm him, still grinning, before his grin turned into a grimace of embarrassment. “It’s Ezekeel… I wish he was… I wish I could have done anything to save him.” He clenched his jaw but pulled his friend closer. “You don’t know why he fell, do you?” he asked his friend silently, softly stroking his long brown curls behind his ear. “No…”_  
_“He seduced one of Mother’s children. A young maiden from the village we visited.” Shocked, his friend stared at him, growing pale. “He fell for lust, Michael. He claimed it was love, but you know as well as I do that love does not need to be consumed in whatever way Mother’s mortals do it. He broke one of our most important laws.” – “He fell for a mortal.”  
He nodded, seeing tears rising into his friend’s beautiful blue eyes. “Don’t cry for him. He is not worth any pain. Just…forget him.”_

His suit’s fabric stretched out underneath his breath. Soon, he would need a new suit, but currently, he enjoyed feeling his muscles pressing against the grey framing him. His training was a welcome distraction, since his guilt lay deep. Back then, he had taken Michael’s memories for the first time. It had been helpful for him to let go of his grief. Still, Gabriel couldn’t help but wonder if his magic had been successful, or if traces of memories had been left in Michael’s mind. In case of the latter, he would be forced to repeat his deed, make her suffer once more, and hopefully, for good. Memories were a powerful thing, but if it meant to save the few that he loved the most, he dared to mess with them. 

He walked over to his office, sat down in his chair and skipped through the new reports that had been delivered while he was talking to Michael.  
“Miracles in Skandinavia, birth rates, death reports, purgatory findings… - possessions?” He stopped and opened the file, slowly drawing in the air through his nose. Beelzebub… again. After 400 years of silence, he had returned to earthly matters. What a _pleasure_. Sometimes, Gabriel wondered whether he had just fallen asleep after the Salem Witch Trials, but he knew just as well as every other Angel that his dear nemesis was the leading force behind every little bit of evil left on his Mother’s favourite flawed creation. They all knew that Lucifer had given up the moment he had turned completely. Beelzebub and Astaroth were his dearest deputies, and even though everybody knew that they were the real problems they had to deal with, nobody in Hell even dared for a second to rebel against Satan himself. Admittedly, Gabriel didn’t want to find out about him either. After being his Mother’s favourite, he would be pissed returning to the surface as a hideous monster.  
Lost in thought, he closed the file and ran his hand over his face. One year… and he already dreaded him again. Beelzebub… Hopefully, he could resist seeing him before the Great War started.


End file.
